13th Steet Studio

A Bed Quilt

I was asked to make a bed-sized quilt from a sack of mostly green fabric. I could use my choice of pattern, but this friend/client does not like her beautiful fabrics cut up into small pieces. So I did this 90" by 90" quilt using the "Dart" pattern that came with a pack of batik fabrics. I added in some of her dog fabrics too, which made the end product less green in color, but maybe more vintage in look? Anyway, one more done and on to the next project:

My thanks yet again to the long-suffering husband who serves as quilt holder.

Christmas in August

I'm rarely ahead of the game, but I did finish up a Christmas Tree skirt lately. The fabric was an Alexander Henry print called "Snow Fogies". I had some silver sequins that were the same shape as the white snowflakes on this fabric, so I sewed a bunch on. They don't show up well in this photo but in person the skirt has a nice sparkle. This skirt may be part of a donation to the annual Lawrence Tree Festival...

The Bunny Bunch

Remember the "Giggle and Squeak" baby quilt I made a while back? (No? Click here.) Well, my favorite block in that was the rabbit, so when I was asked to make a quilt for a new grandbaby, I suggested doing a quilt of just bunnies in a "Brady Bunch" arrangement. Here is the result:

 

Dimebag Show at the Percolator

Dimebag Show at the Percolator is an event where folks go to the Social Services League Thrift Store and pay $10 for a bag that they fill with items to make art.

"Sing" (above) is one of the pieces that I made this year from this assortment of stuff:

I also made this piece called (of course) "Daughters"...which may be in the category of art that is so bad it's good?

In any case, it is a fun show that will be up for the next couple of weekends. Check it out.

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Happy Birthday to Me

I'm getting older by the minute, but...

 

Summer Simple

Staying cool just sewing charm squares together.

This baby quilt comes with a matching "Smiley".

 

Early Birthday

I got an early birthday present last week; a lovely piece of bird art by Blue Fire Studio called "Love is All":

The colors are fabulous and the expressions on the birds' faces are perfect. Blue Fire does a lot of "owl people" in a variety of poses. I'm not sure if one is going to be enough...

I'm Sewing

But I'm not getting much finished! Here is a quilt top I designed and stitched up made of mid-century modern themed blocks:

It has been a block of the month project for my local quilt guild. I called it "Home Sweet Modern Home". Now to get it layered and quilted...my least favorite part.

Spring Quilt Market

My quilt "Happy Happy Happy" was featured in Fabriquilt's booth at Quilt Market last weekend:

I am also proud that Fabriquilt is using a detail shot of my quilt "A Flutter of Color" as the header for their Facebook page. Fabriquilt has a wide variety of beautiful solid and print fabrics for quilters. Look for them at your local quilt shop.

More Flowers

Here is a throw-sized quilt that I just finished up for a client/friend:

Don't those Kaffe designed and inspired fabrics just look fabulous?! Blooming in the garden are those peonies that sprouted up from the rootstock that the tree peonies were graphed onto. Not as grand as the former flowers were, but pretty none the less:

Peonies-Real and Imagined

Years ago I had three tree peonies. Due to permissive gardening that allowed a Japanese Maple to grow too large, I now have only one peony that blooms. They all do not get as much sun as they need, and one has reverted back to its root stock. (You can see its tiny buds and slightly different leaves in the bottom of the photo.) Those remaining blooms are greatly appreciated and beautiful,though:

Recently I made a quilt for FabriQuilt out of their new fabric line "Happy". Part of the quilt had large peony-flowers that I embellished with sequins and machine embroidery. If you attend Spring Quilt Market stop by FabriQuilt's booth and see the quilt (and the great new fabric line).

Simplify, Simplify

Elizabeth Hartman has a great book out called Modern Patchwork available here. One of the projects in the book is called Rapid City:

I make quilts for a client/friend who likes big prints and doesn't like me to cut the fabric up into small pieces. Rapid City seemed like a good possibility if I simplified it. Here is what I came up with after combining the scrapy parts and eliminating the white outline around the black lines:

Johnson County Library Art Show

There is a great selection of art quilts at the Shawnee Library (13811 Johnson Dr., Shawnee, KS) including this one by Deb Rowden:

And this one by Barbara Brackman:

Plus these beauties by Carol Jones that grace the basic info card:

Be sure to stop by!

Recovery Sewing

I had the second hip replaced a few months ago and the project I picked to work on while I was house-bound was Zen Chic's paper pieced "Octo". It turned out to be a bad choice to sew while on drugs. It looked simple, but triangles are tricky and when I cut out the rough shapes to sew I kept getting mirror images. After the first hip I sewed four patches, and that worked so much better. Anyway it is finished up now and ready for my guild's quilt show:

The bright fabrics are from Brackman's "Morris Jewels" line. Quilt held by the long suffering husband on a windy day.

Giggle and Squeak

We welcomed a new member to the family this week, and I am happy to have an excuse to sew up a "Giggle and Squeak" quilt designed by Carrie Bloomston. I bought this pattern several years ago but Google says it is still available here.

Vosey Improv

A small quilt I made last year is for sale in Barbara Brackman's Etsy store. (Click here to view.) It uses her "Morris Modernized" print fabrics and some coordinating solids I had on hand.

The machine quilting is inspired by the very good tutorial here by "Better Off Thread".

Smilin'

I whipped up several "Smileys" last week. If you can't think happy thoughts looking at these, then I can't help you. It's the best I can do.

Keeping Warm

My quilt guild (Kaw Valley Quilters Guild) has an ongoing project called "Warm Kids" that provides quilts to a variety of places and organizations doing good work with families and children. Over the last 5 years I think we have donated about 1000 quilts of all sizes. I've made a few but not as many as I should have. Last week I sewed together some leftover blocks and made this small Warm Kids quilt:

Birds: Good, Bad and Ugly

 

This is a recording of my oldest bird (Major) asking if I'd like to buy a bad bird and then singing rockabye baby with me. He is not fond of me because the love of his life, Gladys likes me better. Or, she did. She is the one saying "hello" in the background. She has been my buddy since these two moved in, but when I took her out a few weeks ago she gave me a very painful bite on my hand. Hoping that it was an accident, I took her out again when I had healed up a bit. This time she bit me on the wrist and opened a vein. I had to call the paramedics...or I thought I did... Anyway, they arrived (along with animal control) and bandaged me up and mopped up all of the blood. Super nice guys. Wish I knew what made Gladys turn on me! This is what I looked like after the paramedics left. You can see the scar from the first bite on my hand above the bandage:

Festive Holiday Fun

Today we will try to beat the world record for most ugly holiday sweater wearers in one place at the KU Men's Basketball game. Lucky for me, printed teeshirts will also qualify, and I will be wearing something similar to this.

After several weeks of nagging, I think the long-suffering husband will also be participating. I slapped this together for him.

Happy Holidays and Rock Chalk!